Own Little World
by HoldTheTruthForever
Summary: The Uber Director had a bigger plan: To awaken an ancient army that would eradicate humanity. Can Max and the flock stop this war? Or will there be no humanity left to save?
1. Backfired

"Life...life is nothing more than a roadblock in the way of superiority. Sure. It serves as our vessel to carry out each other's plans. But when life becomes frail, you lose power. I chose to shun life. And doing so has granted me near immortality. But one life has almost destroyed those dreams: Max Ride. She thought I was dead though. But if she wasn't so self-indulged in her own little world, she would make sure I was dead. But no. I was, very much, _alive."_

The Uber-Director has told itself this every waking moment since the hurricane. Mother Nature's pathetic attempt at saving humanity. But to die, is to survive and prosper. And he would surely do that with a plan B. Operation Emergence. The director always held onto this plan in case the others have failed. He would see to the destruction of humanity. ALL humanity. But the flock would get in the way. But decades ago, when he still had the 'Vessel of Life,' the director discovered a hole in the ground, located at the base of Mt. Everest. He took his personal excavation group down the tunnel and discovered an ancient race of beings. God knows how long they've been there, but, they were all in a deep hibernation. His team discovered an ancient civilization right below the Earth's crust! They had building and weapons and all kinds of native animals. The Director and his team 'agreed' on telling the world of this news. Once they've exited the foreign land, the Director shot and killed everyone in his group in their sleep. He would wait one day to awaken this race as a last ditch effort to annihilate life on this planet so that a superior race would emerge and take better care of the mess we made.

The Director has traveled a far distance but it finally made it after a week of travel. The hole was still there, now obscured by boulders but not covered. It rolled down the tunnel, almost tipping over on a grove on the floor. When the Director got there, it mentally activated a device on itself. The device created a loud whine that was deafening to humans. The creatures flinched and their eyes flashed open. If the Director still had a mouth, it'd be grinning. The monsters stood up and screamed. They were dazed and confused after awakening from their thousand year slumber. They saw the Director.

"I am your new leader, warriors. I am far more superior than anyone in your ancient civilization. If you don't comply, I will have to use deadly force." The Director spoke in it's lifeless, robotic voice.

The monsters growled, then a loud shriek echoed through the spacious cavern. A larger, bright red being pushed it's way through the crowd and it ran over the Director. Sparks and fluids ran over the floor as the Director attempted to utter with it's broken intercom, "I a-am your s-s-superior! Obey me!"

The soldiers walked right over it, crushing all of the organs without even noticing. They unlatched their weapons from the backs and began to march in unison. Horns echoed throughout the tunnels that spread all through the planet. The other tribes awakened. Beast Riders rode on top of dinosaurs outfitted with rocket launchers, spiders that dug through the ground, creating more emergence holes, and the flying monsters of the Hollow burst out of the ground Drones began attacking the cities, killing everyone and effortlessly annihilating the armed forces.

It was the Locust's time to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.


	2. End of Days

I gave a sigh of relief. It was finally over. Itex was beaten, and the world was saved. There have been some...unfortunate losses over the past few days, but me, Nudge, Gaz, Fang, Angel, Total, and Iggy were safe. We have been flying to god knows where for a few hours over the vast sea of clouds. Total, as always, is complaining.

"Can we get something to eat?"

"No."

"Can we take a break?" he said with more of a whine to his voice.

"No" I can do this all day.

"Why not?"

"If we go down, would you stop pestering me?"

"For three hours, yes."

"Good enough for me. Guys, lets head down and find some food!"

We all descended through the clouds so we could find the nearest town. What we saw though, was something different. New York City was what we were looking at, or what was left of it. It was now smoking ruins. Building collapsed, fires burning like wildfire, and the screams of helpless ground-walkers. The kids were horrified. Angel looked away towards me and said, "Max? How long where we flying exactly?"

A massive explosion in the center of the city went off. Nudge and Angel seemingly just appeared right in front of me, burying their faces in my sleeve. I held them tight as if they were about to evaporate. Fang drifted past me a couple of feet.

"What do you think? A nuke?"

Something told me this was no act of warfare.

"I honestly don't know. Lets go check it out."

"Wait! All I know was that there was an explosion! What happened?" Iggy sounded hard-pressed to know.

I took a deep breath and said, "Something's going down in New York. We're going to find out what."

Once we landed on the decimated harbor, we looked around without seeing any signs of life.

"Angel, do you sense anything?" I asked.

She nodded her head no.

Nudge began to rant, "Well, we know this isnt Itex, but who could it be? The School? Rampaging zoo animals? ALIENS! I hope it's aliens, because in the movies there is always some weird way they get killed by like, playing music or some disease we're used to. Or maybe it was mass suicide! Then we could do whatever we want! We could-"

"SHADY STREET HOT DOG VENDOR!" Total interrupted. (thankfully)

He scampered toward the stand while suddenly, the freaking ground begins to shake.

"Total! Get back here!" Angel yelled.

"Mmmf!" Total was stuffing his face with hot dogs.

The shaking becomes so violent that we are knocked off our feet. The street suddenly caved in and what appeared to be some kind off spider with a mask clambered out from under Total. He was to slow to react, and the spider snapped up Total in one swift move.

"TOTAL!" Angel sobbed.

She tried running towards the digger but I held her back. She started kicking the air and crying into my sleeve.

Several smaller holes broke through the ground around us. Three strange beings leaped twelve feet into the air and landed in front of us with a thud. My flock backed up into a small group, analyzing our foes. They all wielded strange looking guns. They all wore a bulky vest with some kind of a cargo pants, and each one had different masks. One had a glowing strip down the middle, another had a cyclops like eye in the center and so on. They all were beefed up and had pale reptilian skin. So, this is what the School cooked up for us now.

"Alright guys," I whispered through clenched teeth, "Spread out!"

We all spread out to take out our adversaries. They began to fire their weapons but of course, they have the speed of a Walrus on land. I landed behind one a chopped it in the back of the neck. It seemed to have no effect. How do I know? Well it immedietly turned and kicked me square in the gut, sending me falling back. I saw Fang punching one in the stomach with little effect. It raised it's gun and began bashing him with it. Nudge was being held by one, with one clawed hand over her mouth and the other pointing some sort of giant revolver at Angel, who had her hands in the air. Iggy attempted to rescue Nudge, who let out muffled screams, but instead he was shot in the leg by the cyclops masked one with those weird rifles. I got up with my wings spread out. I dashed right into the monster about to shoot me, knocking him of his feet, and I punched the guy holding Nudge across the jaw. I swear I small sharp teeth fall out. Fang actually broke the neck of his opponent. Nudge scrambled out of the monster's grasp.

"These guys don't go down easily." He said with a slight smile.

Gazzy came out of hiding behind a dumpster. I was wondering where he went. I turned around to finish off that other punk, only to find out he was gone. Along with that spider thing. Angel picked up the revolver out of the groaning 'aliens' hand.

"Angel," Gazzy said slowly, "put that down."

Angel instead shot the creature. And again and again and, you guessed it! Again.

"That was for Total." She whispered, fighting back tears.

I took the gun out of her hand and tossed it aside. We all felt sad about Total. But nobody felt as bad as Angel. We looked at Iggy's leg to see the bullet wound. It went right through his shin, even though our advanced healing factors all ready started to kick in.

"Max? Why does everyone hate us?" Angel asked meaningfully.

We were all taken aback by the question. We actually never really dwelled upon that particular subject. I was about to answer that until At least a dozen more creatures popped out of the ground like damn Whack-a-Mole.

"Up and away!"

My flock soared up into the air, looking down at the monsters. They fired their rifles at us, but missed thanks to our special reflexes. Iggy took something out of his back pocket. It was a small, metal cylinder with a red-...oh god.

"Cover your ears." He commanded with a smirk.

Ig tossed the bomb down at the monsters. The explosion was well, an explosion. Chunks of meat, skin, and organs splattered up into the air. Well, they're not robots.

"THAT WAS SO GROSS!" Nudge was disgusted to new levels when something else whipped past her. "WAS THAT A SPINE!"

"Half of one." Iggy said with a chuckle.

All jokes aside, we were all probably wondering the same thing: What happened to the rest of America? Or even the world? It was killing me to fully know what we were up against. I, as usual, came up with a tacky slapped together plan.

"Let's search for survivors. There are people who need us!"

We all glided deeper into the city, ready for whatever these monsters had in store.


	3. Reaver alone!

I hate anxiety. I really, truly, do. Especially with creatures that can leap out of the ground at any moment and fill us full o' holes. Iggy decided to break the tension. "So, what shall we name these fine specimens of humanity?" We all suggested wacky names when Gazzy said with a surprisingly serious tone, "Locust."

Iggy pretended to yawn. "Why that?"

"Well," Gazzy took a moment to think. "I guess they remind me of the insect. They travel in swarms, destroying property and causing death by plague. I learned that in the month of school that Max unfairly cut short!" He yelled that in case I couldn't hear him from a foot away. (He still hasn't dropped it.) We continued to fly over the mass grave of a smoldering New York City.

"Hey look! A dog!" Angel shouted.

"No way, that looked more like a monkey." Gazz insisted.

I had a headache already. "How about we all agree it was some sort of monkey-dog."

"Okay," Gazzy muttered afterwards, "it was a monkey."

I awaited Angel's response, but she didn't acknowledge. I turn my head back to see Angel flapping her small wings, floating in place, concentrating. She opened her eyes and said, "We're being followed."

Just at that very moment, two flying, octopus, jellyfish things leaped into the air and rocketed towards us. They were as big as a small house! Angel yelped and bolted past the flock, and we followed. The jellies were wearing masks with one eye, the had a maw filled with razors for teeth, and each had a pair of small lobster arms. They seemed to propel themselves by flapping six of spider like legs. On their backs, they seemed to have riders with horned helmets firing machine guns at us, which was hard to tell what they were using exactly while you're getting shot in the ass.

We bobbed and weaved in between buildings, making sure they don't clip us. The jellies jumped from side to side on each building, taking note that they can only fly forward and not stay in mid-air. Maybe we could use that to our advantage. While one was chasing the flock, the other seemed to have an unhealthy obsession with trying to kill me. I went into my warp-speed ability, and the monster had no problem keeping up. Perfect. I then made a sudden, grinding, halt. The monster soared right past me in a comical way and flew right into a building, destroying the building and itself in a single gory explosion. I even cringed. I attempted to meet up with the rest of the flock, only to find Angel pinned under the other monster on the roof top. But she didn't look scared at all.

No. The flock can't be dead! I refused to believe that! I began to flap my wings furiously as the monster raised one bladed arm about to impale my little angel. "NO!" Tears streaked my face as the blade came down. But then, something incredible and disturbing happened. The monster halted, pointed it's arm towards it's underside, and impaled itself. Black 'goo' dripped down from the wound, and the monster tipped over off the side of the building and began to plummet to the Earth. Angel just gets creepier every week. Angel was delighted when she saw me.

"Max! That was awesome! Let's do it again!"

"Ummmm...no. Where's everyone else?" I asked with more concern put into my voice.

Angel pointed down at the monster. We both gracefully floated down to the streets, looking like two angels giving humanity salvation in the midst of the apocalypse, which we technically were. The back half of the monster was entirely machine by the way, big enough to hold four mutant bird kids. I opened a hatch and Gazz, Ig, Fang, and Nudge spilled out and ran away from it.

"Not when we're in a closed place Gaz!" Fang yelled covering his nose, to which Gasman replied, "I said sorry!"

Angel and I laughed, almost starting to enjoy this apocalypse. No people, no hiding, these opponents were no Flyboys for sure, but they were not difficult to take down, thanks to Angel's abilities. That is when we suddenly realized we were in reality, and there was an injured Locust trying to sneaked past us. The horn broke off his helmet, revealing it to be just carved stone. Fang picked up the Locust rider by the collar and growled "Why are you here?" I almost expected him to say 'I'm Batman.' The beast grunted and said in a rigid voice, "Th-is is not your planet to rule..."He bit onto something solid in his mouth and coughed black blood on Fang that blended into his equally dark jacket. "Hail RAAM."

And the life faded from his eyes.


	4. Who needs Faith?

Fang tossed the corpse aside like an orphan on the street.

"Let's get out of here before we wind up dead." That is one thing we could all agree on. We shot out our wings and took flight, leaving the smoking ruins behind.

* * *

><p><strong>RAAM POV:<strong>

I watched the footage that was being sent to me via cameras on the helmets. It appears that the only possible resistance preventing us from conquering our own home are these six avian meat bags. So? They are nothing more than ancient relics. But that little one...could be a problem. It also appears that our Reavers can't take them here to be processed until we kill the little one. My Theron Guard stomped into my tent and told me in our own language, "The only survivor from battalion 11 has returned."

"Send him in. I need a few answers."

The soldier stumbled in. He had bruises and gashes up his arms.

"What did you see?"

"The humans have some sort of organic floatation devices."

"Wings" I growled.

"Y-yes. They are also stronger than the other fleshlings on this planet. But they are also weak, arogant, and they care about eachother, deeply. Maybe we could use this to our advantage?"

I formulated a plan while he adjusted the lens on his cone shaped helmet. "Yes. Kidnap one down here, and the rest would follow. Their over-zealousness and self-confidence shall be their downfall."

I walked past the Cyclops, who emitted a relieved sigh.

"I have no tolerance for failure." I took out my boltok and shot the cyclops in the back of the head. I holstered it and continued to walk out of my tent and entered my camp full of loyal minions. If only the queen were still here.

"ATTENTION!" I boomed. The drones immediatly got into their respective rows: Drones in front, Best Riders, Kantus, and finally Boomers. "We have a finally have a challenge!" I uploaded the recordings from the cameras onto a disk that was then uploaded by my Theron onto the main screen behind me. The footage displayed stills of the winged humans. All of the troops laughed menacingly. That is what I like in an army. Not a bunch of washed-out ground walkers that are to afraid to fight. My kind was born to kill.

"We have a plan though! Steal the little one!" The screen paused at the little girl with messy blonde hair. The Boomers laughed dopely. "Remember: Cut off the head and the body dies! If we get to her, than the rest will follow down here, where we will have a trap ready. The Beast Riders grin was full of razor sharp teeth, useful for chewing through a human's bone. The entire camp began cheering, which followed up to me holding up a clawed hand to silence them.

"But, we have to kill the blind one first. If my sources are correct," I looked back at my tent, thinking about the decaying drone, then up at the monitor that froze on an image of the blind one. "the blind one can sense where we are, even if the Wretches silently stalk them. That is why Sniper Battalion 8901 will be sent out to kill him from afar. Riders, saddle up! Your Bloodmounts will follow to scramble the humans. During the confusion, Armored Kantus will snatch the female and head back to base. You know your tasks. Do not fail me."

I stepped back into my tent grinning, hearing the cheers of the horde roaring with pride almost brings a tear to my eye. Almost.


	5. Headshot

The past hour has been a real downer for me. All we've been treated to in the streets of New York was more dead bodies than trash. That should give you an idea on how disgusted we were. When I get my hands on the Locust King or Queen or whatever, I'm going to do unspeakable things to 'em. All this adrenaline is what's keeping us going.

Fang clapped his hands together. "So, when we meet the head locust, we kill him, and they would all die out? That is the dumbest plan I've ever heard."

He always thinks he has a better plan. "It just takes simple logic Fang! Cut off the head and the body dies!" Fang rolled his eyes but didn't want to argue. Iggy felt the digging stop ten minutes later, which isnt good because we need one of those spider-things to get us into the Locust stronghold. We decided central park was the best bet, since there was a massive explosion in that are earlier.  
>"On the way to central park, I asked Angel out of complete boredom, "Hey Angel, can you pick up anything from these things?"<p>

"Nothing really. Just usual war banter like 'for the horde' and 'kill' but, you get the idea." She looked at me with her big, blue eyes. As if begging me for a treat. I just give a disappointed sigh. Where did these things come from? Why are they here? These beings are so mysterious.

* * *

><p><strong>Sniper captain POV<strong>

My squad of four arent just any of those expendable drones. We are the best sniper squad in Hollow cavern #3. And RAAM has given us special privelage in the defeat of our adversaries. I told my squadmates in our language, "Up this structure." Towards a building that seemed untouched. The four of us shot grappling hooks up the skyscraper and climbed up.

Once we stood on the rooftop, we laid on our stomachs at the edge and unlatched our Longshots.

"Where are the humans?"

"Flying into the plant habitat." replied my liutenant. I saw them. Six splotches darting across the sky, circling around their polluted playground. I wish we could take them all out, but RAAM gave us strict orders to only kill the blind one. The one in the back.

"Alright men, are you ready to make our people proud?" They all growled in agreement. "Then lets do this. For the Queen."

"For the Queen." They allsaid simultaneously.

We all strapped on our vision enhancing goggles and looked into the sniper scope. I could see them now, with their hideous features and over inflated personalities. I barred my teeth, ready to yell. But, this was a stealth mission, which is why we couldent come in on a Barge, because they are huge and loud as hell.

"Alright, detonate the mine."

A drone bressed a button on his wristband, blowing up a nearby explosive. It worked perfectly. The flock lnded down and they all took a fighting stance. We all had our crosshairs on the blind one's forehead. We could litteraly feel eachothers blood rushing. One of my squadmates took the shot, and the boy's brains splattered over the grass.

"Mission accomplished." I said with an awkward grin. We repelled down the skyscraper and jumped back into our home. The Bloodmounts were heard, howling in the distance. They were getting _hungry._


	6. Ambush

I heard a loud splat coming from behind me. We all turned to see Iggy collapsed on the sidewalk with his brain in pieces lying all over the sidewalk. We were at a loss for words. I tried not to scream, flip out, cry, or a mix of all of the above. I failed at that. I screamed to the top of my lungs, punching the sidewalk until my bloody knuckles lied in a small crater. I was a mess, we all were; except for Fang, who was just standing with his head down. I couldent process that Iggy was gone. My brain was telling me this is a dream. But this was real. There was no time for this. At all. We heard a roar, followed by the appearance of what looked like Locust riding on several albino two legged creatures with little talons sticking out from under their head. wtf? We all instantly got up into a fighting stance, seemingly forgetting about Iggy, but inside it was still torture. The new threats were fast, faster than we were. Running of course. Notice how I said 'running.' The gears turned and we jumped up to the air and planned on staying there. The riders fired their rifles, but those sluggish weapons were no match for our speed. This fact seemed to have clicked too, because the Locust directed their mounts back into their caves like a bunch of cowards. I wasn't done yet. I still wanted to rip someone's heart out. But not as much as I wanted to keep the rest of my flock alive. Instead, I went for the next best thing: Taunting.

"Yeah crawl back in your hole where you belong! This is our planet! Your just running 'cause you know were better!" I was on fire.

I was caught off guard when the mounts ran up a small hill and leaped into the air, successfully tackling Fang and Angel. I wasn't going to lose anyone else. I screamed and bolted head on right into the one on top of Angel. I killed the mount when I think I heard it's skull shatter. The monster emitted a mangled grunt and fell over like a dead cow. Angel got up and tiger palmed the rider off. We both double teamed it, in a way. Gazzy followed up by breaking his neck, killing him. Fang was fending himself, he somehow killed a mount and the rider single handedly. We turned and saw Nudge being chased by a mount with the rider firing his rifle blindly. It took me half a second to realize why she lured it into the site of a destroyed building. She held out her hand towards a metal spike stuck in the ground. It ripped itself out of the ground and shot itself toward her. She ducked and the spike went right through the monster, sending it flying across the street until it came to a sudden halt. The monster was pinned to the wall with the spike through it's...stomach? I guess? The monster screeched and snapped it's jaws wildly until eventually, he went limp. We regrouped for a head count. Hmmm, flock: five, Locust:...one. We beamed at each other, but then became sad again, realizing what happened to Iggy. The pain came back full force. Until we were snapped back into reality once we heard more yelling. Two more mounts ran out of nowhere, but this time with no riders and instead, several 'Knights in Shining Armor.' They were shaped humanoid, except their shins were wider than their legs. They had foot long claws grasped around a strange looking gun in each hand. They had no eyes, just a large mouth filled with rows of razor sharp teeth. Their backs had several spikes running down them, kinda like a porcupine, and of course, they were clad from head to toe in black armor.

"Will this ever end?" whined Gasman.

We were surrounded, with the mounts circling around us. The knights roared and the mounts ran towards us, jaws snapping. We all hovered in the air, dodging bullets. Except someone was missing: Fang. He was pinned by one while it slashed a claw across it's face. I landed hard and did a leg sweep, knocking the behemoth off it's feet while cracking it's ankle in the process. Music to my ears. Fang got up, flinching at the pain across his eye. The rest of the flock grounded as well, fending off the mounts. Gazzy had a talon in each of his hands with blood running down from his palms down his arms, staining his only good t-shirt. Gazzy, fueled by the loss of his best friend, was actually forcing the mount back, until he broke both of it's arms. Both mounts weeped pathetically. The three knights, still standing where they were, raised both arms into the air and screamed. We covered our ears from the awful cry, Until we noticed the mounts glowing white, and they were just standing on both legs, looking ready to fight. They focused their one eyed masks on us with contempt. We uncovered our ears, only to fall back down when the knight screamed again, almost defeaning us. The knights slowly walked over to me as I was throbbing on the grass. Two walked by me but the last one stood over me. It raised a foot and began kicking me. The wind was knocked out of me with each hit. I heard a couple ribs break and I coughed up blood.

I heard a muffled voice cry, "Max!"

I squinted, blinded by the light's reflection on the knight, only to see Angel being tossed around like a rag doll. When the knight attempted to land another kick on me, I grabbed it's foot and forced it down. I had a second to look up and see Fang, Gaz, and Nudge getting whiplashed by the other elite locust. It swung a fist at Nudge, knocking her off her feet while it held Fang under one foot and wrapping a set of claws around Gazzy's throat. My guy got back up and it began to choke the life out of me. My vision blurred as I saw a knight leaping towards a terrified Angel, catching her, and landing into a ball-like form that rolled away from the fight. All in one, swift movement. The rest of them released their grip from us and rolled away in the same direction without killing any of us followed by the animals. I didn't bother wondering why, I just inhaled the life back into me. We shuddered, thinking about how Angel was just taken away from us. Gazzy began to sob at the loss, of his little sister and his best friend. I began to cry to and Nudge wept into my shoulder. We were pathetic.

"I right," I sniffled, "crying isn't going to bring them back. We should just get ourselves together and head in the direction they're going. With luck, we will catch them before they do anything to Angel."

They nodded in agreement, along with Fang, who gave a lopsided smile. We spread our massive wings and began to fly towards the bastard that stole my little girl.


	7. A Hearty Laugh

**RAAM's P.O.V **

****I stood at the edge of the water, looking down into this town's harbor, at all of the obliterated warships, and one of our leviathans bathing in the sunlight. I started to pace impatiently up and down the street, wondering where my squad was with that hideous little girl. And then, my enhanced hearing picked up on a grinding sound. I looked down the road and saw my three armored kantus rolling around the corner towards me, tearing gravel behind them. They halted in front of me and unrolled into a kneeling position. The one to the left tossed the girl in front of me, like trash. She had _fluffy_ golden hair, making me want to take a knife to her scalp. Her teary blue eyes looked up at me with fear, then with an angry expression. She unfurled a set of ridiculous white wings that glistened in the afternoon sun. She leaped up into the air and began to fly away. As she hovered above us, she stuck her tongue at me. Stupid girl. As turned and flew away from us as fast as she could, I unlatched the boltok from my thigh and pointed it up at the black blur in the sky. My kantus looked up at her, shielding their eye, and then at me. I closed one eye, lining up my shot. My powerful vision zoomed in on her, and I fired. The black speck twirled out of the sky, screaming. My squad and I calmly walked about a mile until we came across the battered and beaten body of the girl, who had a bullet wound in her left wing. She was still breathing. Good. I need to learn more about them, so I could balance out the strengths and weaknesses. Then, figure out the DNA pattern so I could make my troops even more powerful. Of course though, the only one who knew about this scheme was me. The girl twitched and fluttered the un-blackened eye open. I grabbed her by the injured wing and dragged her back to the emergence hole by the harbor, followed by my kantus. The human didn't fight back, she just looked up at me while I was staring straight ahead and said, "You're not going to win. You will release me."

I looked down at her, my beady orange eyes staring into hers...and I laughed. For the first time ever in my life, I laughed. What was this insignificant form of life trying to outsmart? These creatures were dumber than I could have ever dreamed of. The girl looked down slowly and muttered something out of earshot. Nobody keeps secrets from me. I halted kneeled down next to her. My hand on her wing reached up and grasped her neck. Followed by me attempting to speak English.

I spoke with a mangled, whisper sounding voice, "If you want to keep your spinal cord, I suggest you tell me your little secret."

The girl was taken aback and finally said, "You're pathetic. Max will hunt you down to the face of the Earth and kill you." She said with such boldness.

I clenched my free hand and picked her up by the neck. Nobody calls me pathetic, or spews empty threats. I raised my free hand and sent a fist of 50 mph into her rib cage. Hearing a satisfying crunch, she coughed blood and looked back down.

"Never forget your place, girl."

I dragged her by the neck once more back down the street. Anxiously waiting to show her her knew home.


	8. This is Not Yours to Take

**Max P.O.V.**

I tore through the air as fast as I could, tears sliding down my bloody and beaten face. The...remains of the flock were not far behind me. I quickly scanned the ground for those rolly-polly bastards. And then I heard a gunshot from the right, towards the harbor. No...they coulde-oh god. I flew as fast as a bullet. The sunset facing the ocean cast four threatening shadows down the street where I landed. The three knights were there, along with a towering and hideous monster. I mean, I have seen some pretty grotesque things in my day, but this guy would appear under the definition of 'ugly' in the dictionary. He had a massive under-bite, a set of beady orange eyes, long finger nails, and clad in black armor with red lights and strange sybols all over them. He was holding Angel, who was breathing at a strange pace. She looked up at me very weakly, revealing her face to be covered with scratches and bruises. I was immediatly enraged. Fang and the other landed behind me. I looked back at them to see their fists clenched and battle energy in their eyes, wanting to get revenge for their fallen friends. I was so proud to have them on my side. These guys didn't stand a chance. I turned back to the Locust with a smirk. The tall guy chuckled a little and he tossed Angel to the side like trash. She whimpered like a beaten dog as she slammed onto the pavement.

"Angel! Run!" I shouted.

Now, usually, I expected Angel to spring into action and fly high up into the air using those beautiful white wings of hers. But instead, she was face-planted inthe dirt, flapping her wings pathetically. There, I noticed, was a gaping bullet hole in one of her wings. I wanted to kill these guys, but first, I wanted some answers.

"What have you done?" I was never one for subtlety.

The tall Locust stepped foward a bit. "RAAM." He spoke in a raspy voice, like he's whispering loudly.

"RAAM? Out of all of the names you picked RAAM?" Nudge asked, failing at holding back laughter. RAAM looked pissed. Actually, he had the same permanent look all of the time. "Why not pick something better? Like Footin Urface?"

Nudge leapt into the air, snapping out her tawny wings and speeding towards RAAM with her foor out in front. RAAM immediatly grabbed her ankle when she was close and he tossed her back to us with out even trying. Raams's stone colored skin remained locked with the same, angry, look.

He spoke again, "This planet isnt yours to take."

"Uh, excuse me? You invaded our planet. We were here first. All you guys did was come down and kill everything in sight! You're nothing but genocidal monsters with war on your mind!" Oh my god, I was so cool.

"Are you so different? Your entire culture and history is based on war. We were here decades before your kind evolved from mere sapiens. We both lived in harmony until you got greedy. We didn't have such advanced technologies back then, and so we were driven underground. We all put ourselves into hibernation in hopes of one day we could reclaim our home."

This guy's voice was like nails on a chalkboard. "If you think that we will give up Earth because of your little sob story, then you're _dead_ wrong."

RAAM pointed towards us, and a large crater formed in between us. Hundreds of these giant ticks with long arms and glowing back packs crawled out between the cracks. RAAM turned and he picked up Angel by the neck, who didn't fight back. What was wrong with her? I've never seen her look so defeated. He walked towards another crater at the end of the street with his knights back-pedaled behind him, firing their weapons at us. They were missing of course, thanks to our reflexes, but we couldent get through the swarm of ticks closing in on us. One leaped up a Gazzy, who backflipped out of the way. The tick exploded when it hit the ground.

Gaz looked down at the ground sadly and said. "Iggy would've liked that."

"We can't fight these things, we have to fly away and escape. We should find a way underground in the morning." Fang said as we were running away from the suicide bombing creepy crawlies. And by running I mean flying


	9. Narrow Escape

**Max P.O.V.**

Tears made streaks through the dirt on my face. We swerved in between buildings, trying to get as far away from us and the ticks as possible. But with my life as loony as it is, running away is never easy. We all heard a whale call from...above. A giant, living, blimp descended from the clouds, snapping it's four jaws. It made another entry in my list of 'Stupidest Things I've Ever Seen' once I saw swords going up it's...rear end. The platform hanging below it started firing rockets at us. We dodged each blast, with buildings crumbling from each strike. One got so close to me I could feel the heat, though. Nudge was getting tired, and she began to slow down. Another rocket flew right towards her. I was getting ready to fly into the missile's path. Nudge instead caught the missile and forced it back, with much strain of course. The rocket hit the blimp in the side, and it began to slowly and gracefully crash into the ocean, like a deflated balloon. We got lower into the streets when it looked like the coast is clear, but of course it wasn't. We 'ran' into a-oh come on! Now this is starting to turn into some sort of 50s B-movie. There was some sort of huge dinosaur with guns. Geez, how did we not notice any of this stuff underground before? The dinosaur roared at us and began to fire wildly at us with the machine guns on his wrists. (These things have genders, right?) One large bullet clipped Gazzy's right wing, and by clipped I mean shot clean off. Gazzy cried out in agony as he crashed to the Earth and skidded onto the pavement. A serious case of 'road rash'. The hundreds of lights on the monster's helmet glared at us.

"GAZZY!" I screamed.

I plummeted to the ground, landing on one foot and one knee and I bolted towards him while the dinosaur swatted at Nudge and Fang like a couple of flies. Gazzy was curled up on the ground sobbing. His right wing was nothing more than a bloody chunk of feathery meat. His face and arms were covered with scratches and gashes and his jeans were shredded. Gazzy looked up at me with his bloodshot blue eyes. I never saw him look so defeated. I pulled Gazz closer, patting his messy hair and telling him soothingly that it'll be alright. I must say, my lies convince even me sometimes. I stayed with Gazzy, hugging and kissing his forehead while we watched Fang and Nudge fight Dinny the Dinosaur a couple blocks away. Fang yelled something to Nudge I couldn't hear, and Nudge nodded in agreement. They both back-peddled in the air, and the monster roared. From the gun on his back, a barrage of rockets fired. Nudge and Fang avoided them at the last second and the rockets crashed into the skysra- oh my god run. I picked up Gazzy and began sprinting down the other end of the street, only seeing from the corner of my eye Nudge and Fang flying low to the ground behind me. The skyscraper began to tip over and fall to the Earth right on top of the dino. He chased us, but the street tapered, becoming to small for him to chase us. The building fell on top of the monster, crushing it into oblivion.

"Where to?" I asked Fang.

"Well," he began, "we should find a safe place to rest first. The subways maybe?"

I nodded in agreement. Gazzy was to heavy for me to fly with, so we all walked and walked until we eventually found a staircase leading to the subway station. Probably not the smartest idea considering these creatures live underground, but there's now where else to go. Fang tore the fabric from his windbreaker to make a lame cover for Gazzy's stump. He swallowed his agony unsuccessfully. Nudge sat with Gazzy and talked to him to make him feel better.

"I just want all of this to stop. But it won't. Those things want us dead, hust like everybody else!" Gazzy sobbed. "I want my friends back! I want my sister back! But they're probably gone."

"Don't say that!" Nudge pleaded, grasping to what little hope there was now.

We've been through alot, fought some of the most bizzare creations ever to exist. We came out strong every time, but Gazzy here just seemed...broken. Then, what I thought was my heartbeat was actually a thumping noise moving down the tunnel. All of us but Gazzy got up into a battle position, feeling revenge taking over to avenge Gazzy's pain.

_THUMP. THUMP._

The thumping began to vibrate up my boots.

_THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP._

There was more than one set of thumps.

_THUMP. THUMP. THUMP._

It just stopped. We looked down the tunnel.

"_BOOM!"_

__A rocket lit up the tunnel and began to bolt it's way towards us.


	10. Why?

**RAAM's P.O.V.**

Ahh, the sweet sent of blood filled my nostrils as I entered the cells with the girl in hand. The emergence hole I used to escape those wretched humans led to the very front of this Dehumanization Facility. I'm going to relish watching this girl rot from within, crushing her spirit. I managed to find an empty cage, about the size of a Bloodmount, and I violently chucked the human into it. She whimpered as her spine smacked against the thick metal bar.

She sat up with her bruised legs outstretched, looking up at me with reddened blue eyes. I spoke in my gruff voice, "This is your new home...until you expire."

She said in a weak, crackling voice, "Can...can I have some food...please?"

I growled. What gives her the right to eat _our _food? But, I digress. We must keep her alive until my invention is complete. Than we can feed her to the 'dogs.'

In our tongue I shouted down the hall, "Chef! Bring this creature something to sustain her!"

A massive Butcher tumbled in, dragging an enormous Rockworm behind and a bloody cleaver in the other. Is he really going to give this girl an entire worm?

It turns out he wasn't. He spread out the long stone worm down the hall and carefully aligned his cleaver with a seam on it's body. In on swift cut, he sliced the tail off of the Rockworm. He picked it up and squeezed it in between the bars of the cage.

The girl looked at it with her eyes glazing over. In our language I said, "Let's go. Allow the human to settle into her final resting place."

We both turned and marched down the hall and out of the building.

* * *

><p><strong>Max P.O.V.<strong>

"Boom!" the monster bellowed.

He fired another rocket from his launcher which we, once again, dodged effortlessly. These massive hulking locust, about the same height as RAAM but bulkier, carried rocket launchers around and for some reason shouted 'Boom!' everytime they fired. Why? It was just giving us a chance to dodge. We managed to knockout his buddy when Nudge landed a flying kick to his stupid bald head. The dope groaned and collapsed, leaving us with only one of the Dynamic Dumbasses to deal with.

Fang managed to his Gasman behind cover of a snack vendor as we battled in the subway platform. I whistled, "Hey pea-brain!" He let out a dopey sound and turned towards my direction.

"Boom?" I suggested.

"Boom!" He fired another slow moving rocket at me, which I rolled to the side to avoid.

Fang got a running start behind this idiot. He jumped up, one leg sticking out, and his foot connected to this thing's skull with a sickening crack. Both of these things lied on the ground, motionless. Gazzy walked out of his cover with a pained expression on his face with only one wing. I felt so bad for the little guy. If we do manage to beat these things, how will we take care of Gazz? He'll never be able to fly again! So what can we do?

But a devilish smile spread across his face when he picked up a rocket launcher to big for him to carry. I smiled at him, feeling relieved he still found joy in blowing stuff up. But he managed to do so, aiming it down the tunnel, and he fired. The rocket soared down the tunnel, but was suspiciously halted by a mound of dirt and rubble in the middle of the tracks. Could it be where these things came from? A way to enter their stronghold?

"Guys, come on! This could be a way to Angel and the solution to destroy these things!" Though my family looked tired and beaten, they solemnly agreed. So we continued our push towards the structure in the subway tunnel.

* * *

><p><strong>Angel P.O.V.<strong>

Why? Why were these things doing this to me? Why can't they just let me die? The very thought of living in this torturous prison of a body made me cry once more. Five of these tall lanky creatures that look like the unarmored ones from before opened up my cell and took me to a musty filthy room full of saws, axes, knives, and needles. I was hoping they were going to execute me, but no such luck. They strapped me to a large metal tray suspended in the air by a chain linking from each corner to a single point on the ceiling.

One looked into my eyes with his coal black ones. His teeth were crooked, yellow, and rotten. He was dresses differently from the others. Where the others wore a weird cloak, this one had battle armor on, two strange looking guns strapped to his belt, and he had spindly dreadlocks hanging around his face. He turned towards his comrades and let out a series of clicks and screeches.

They replied with the same and the dreadlock one quickly walked out the door with it's raptor-like legs. One of the creatures approached me with a scalpel in hand. I silently begged him to slit my throat. I didn't care. I lost Total, Iggy, and possibly the rest of my family. The only thing I had to live for is the open arms of Death, once the time comes.

The one with a scalpel cut a piece of flesh from my diseased wound in my pearl colored wing. Another arrived with a tube and dropped the meat into it, closing it off with a lid. Another doctor, I suppose, pried my jaw open and took a spit sample. And the last on wrote some notes down. Together, the four creatures returned me to my cell.

They didn't kill me, they didn't put me out of my misery. Why? That's all I want to know, why?

* * *

><p><strong>RAAM's P.O.V.<strong>

****The samples given to me by the Kantus proved to be the key ingredient for my project. Thankfully, they didn't ask why I needed them. It's best not to tell the horde just yet. I managed to splice the avian human's DNA with the other materials in a machine Skorge and his lackeys built in return to use the human for further study. My creation started to stir in it's rest. I was keeping it in a cage in case he got aggressive. After many painful seconds the creature rose on it's two front spider legs, sitting on it's tail with no hind legs. It had a set of narrow black wings and it's head looked like one of a dinosaur, full of crooked razor-like teeth. Though the creature had no eyes, it looked up at me.

I was at a loss for words. After working on this project for hundreds of years I have finally managed to create our most deadliest weapon! But wait, I still had to test it. I picked up a piece Rockworm meat from my dish and dropped it into the cage. From the moment it entered the monster's vicinity, it shredded the meat apart within seconds at blinding speeds. If it weren't for my permanent scowl, I would be smiling. I must create another for the two to mate. Their DNA will thankfully give them a faster aging rate than normal, allowing me to mass produce these at a rapid pace.

In the end, I think I shall call these beasts...The Kryll.


	11. Dance with the Devil

**Sorry this story is taking so long for me to finish, but I appreciate you all for being patient. I just have allot of other things to do right now.**

**Max's P.O.V.**

Well...this sucks. To make a really long story short, the moment we came to through the emergence hole, there was this massive underground city! A freakin' city! Right under our feet! These aliens sure work fast, don't they. We took about five steps before alerting those dog things from before. About twenty of these punks surrounded us. We could've easily whooped them if Gaz didn't have a wing and a half. So now we're here. Being escorted by five of these things with guns to our backs and our hands were in the air like some cheesy western flick.

Ugh, my arms are getting tired now! We walked across this wooden bridge that led to a ship suspended in the air by a giant bug hanging on a ceiling. Yup. Not even gonna question this shit anymore. The ship was lined with rusty old turrets and the interior was lined with cells. Each Locust stuffed us into a cell, not even bothering to be gentle. 'Cause, you know, that's the best way to make prisoners talk: treating them like garbage.

The cells were dark, with little light shining through the narrow window of my door. I was knocked off my feet when the giant bug started to crawl along the massive cavern ceiling. It was a pretty rough, loud, ride. Nobody dared to utter a word. I was thinking up a plan. I mean, these things have to feed us, right? Well, I'll just spring out of my cell and single handedly take over this ship. Is it crazy? Yes. What have I got to lose? Well, not much if I'm gonna end up like my cellmate, Jim, whom I am standing in right now.

I dozed asleep for a few minutes, waking up when a pair of guards walked by.

"Hey! Over here!" I yelled.

They looked at me, baring their sharp teeth.

"I gotta use your facilities! Do you really want an accident in these nice metal...things?" I didn't really need to go to the bathroom, but I didn't want 'till lunchtime. Angel needs our help!

The two exchanged glances and pressed on. Really? They just let their prisoners stand in their own filth? Then a thudding approached my cell. Something big. Probably another Big, Bland, and Burly. Well look at that, it was! But this guy was dressed up like a chef.

He unlocked my cage, clutching a weird looking meat in his hand and a massive cleaver in the other. The moment my door opened, I sprang out, tackling the towering beast to the ground. He let out a deep groan, and I gave him a heavy kick to the head for that extra oomf.

Just because I'm me, I said the oh so corny, "Dinner is served."

From his cell, Fang said, "Did you really just say that?" He sounded irritated.

I unlocked his cell. "Yup." He stood still long enough to turn invisible, but reappeared in a hurry to get out of that stuffy cell. Footsteps above deck meant our friendly hosts heard the commotion.

Fang gave one of his rare grins as did I. We his under the stairs as the crew, a whopping total of five, marched down clutching weird rifles. We jumped them, immediately going for the kill. Fang bashed to of their skulls together, finding out their brains are a deep purple color. I cracked ones neck and swiftly chained the momentum of that to a spinning punch to another's temple, killing him. The last one held his hands in surrender. Fang grabbed him by the collar of his leather vest and chucked the guy thorough the cheap wooden floor above us.

"Fang, get Nudge and Gaz out of their cages. I search the others for Angel." I commanded in the most leader-like voice possible.

"And what makes you think she's hear?" He crossed his arms.

"Nothing. Now go! That's an order!"

I turned my back on him and pried open the cells across the room. Nope. Nothing. Zada. Zilch. Last one. With hope, I opened the door, and foud her. I really found her! Angel. She looked sick. Her eyes were half open, her breathing was uneven, her body was horribly scarred and bruised. Not to mention, these things stripped her of her clothes. I took off my windbreaker and threw it over her body.

She struggled to sit up, but I helped. She wearily said, "Max?" Her voice cracked and her eyes welled up with tears.

"That's ride sweetie, I gotcha." Tears welled up in my eyes. I picked her up in my arms, her sliced legs dangling like rags. My poor baby...how could these things do this to her? What do they want? I swear, I'm gonna kill every one of these things, starting with Mr. Under-bite.

Angel cuddled the windbreaker like a blanket. The others looked glad and horrified to see her.

"We have to get out of here, now." I said as my wings spread out.

"Agreed." Fang nodded as his black ones unfolded. He picked up Gazzy, who looked overjoyed to see his sister was alive and...semi-well.

I ran up the stairs with Angel cradled in my arms, the others right behind me. The upper deck was abandoned, though this bug was still crawling along at a snail's pace. We leaped off the edge and flew through the cavern going the opposite way, not wanting to see where this thing was taking us. Angel's thirty pound weight proved no hindrance to my flight performance. Which is good, because this giant flying monster with a turret on it's back is flying right behind us, fast.

* * *

><p><strong>Skorge P.O.V.<strong>

My beast was already prepared in it's pen for a moment like this. The siren's went off once Barge #382 never responded to our last message; the torture barge with the avian children have escaped. I felt horrible having to leave the queen's side, but she said I had a job to do, and she could take care of herself. **  
><strong>

So with the comforting reassurance, I hopped on top of my Hydra and headed towards tunnel 624-B, where the barge was. We quickly caught up to the humans, despite their head start. Nothing can match the flight speed of a Hydra. There's only three in the entire world, and I was honored by the queen to attain one as a gift for me being coronated High Priest of the Kantus.

My mount hungrily snapped it's jaws, wanting a taste of human meat. I gently pat it's rough scaly head, assuring it would get what it wants.

I manned the controls for the massive Troika turret on my pet's back. Before opening fire, I screamed, "_KER EKSHA NORUKOS!"_ (For the queen.)

My mission was to eliminate the targets. RAAM already got what he needed from them, so he was going to send them into an execution camp. That is, until they escaped. These mutated specimens were fast, agile. Their reflexes rivaled those such as mine. Drone sized bullets clipped stalactites, making it evident that these humans were simply to evasive.

Despite the howling wind in my ears, I was able pick up on the humans having a conversation. Though I wasn't as keen on the language as RAAM, I could tell it was a panicked argument. The human female seemed to be furious with the older male as the younger female flew in the middle.

My Hydra lashed out on of it's lanky tendrils in an attempt to snatch the humans. They dipped below the sluggish grab, making my pet howl into the endless cavern. The cave started to narrow. I became worried. I don't want to fail the queen, but soon the cave will be to small for my Hydra to fly through. I stood up with my chainsaw staff clutched in one hand. The humans flew through a narrow opening.

The Hydra held out it's four claws to absorb the crash. He smashed into the wall, though he was unscathed. The impact flung me off the saddle, just as I planned. The humans were in a dead end, and my pet was guarding the only exit. I landed on all fours, the humans stood in a battle position, though our former prisoner was slumped on the ground with a young male sitting beside her.

The female said something in a smug tone. I didn't care, I revved my chainsaw staff and twirled it with one hand. Assuming the female was the general of this team, she took a running start with the others behind her. I released a menacing battle cry and charged forward.

I swept the staff at her ankles. She jumped over it and kicked me in the face. I ignored the pain and used it as energy to mule kick her into the wall. She groaned, clutching her stomach. The younger female, the darker one, flew over my head and attempted to dive bomb me. I arched my chainsaw over my head, barely clipping her black hair.

The impact made me stagger back a few steps. So that's how they're going to fight? I thought if they were going to die, they'd do it with honor. But I guess this fight is a No Holds Barred, like in the training camps. I unhooked a Gorgon Pistol from my utility belt and shot her in the leg. She whimpered and cried out in pain. I aimed for her head until an immense force hit me, the older male. My staff and pistol slid across the dusty cavern floor.

His fist connected with my face multiple times. My long, serpent-like tongue was bitten off when one punch forced my jaws closed. My mouth filled with the dark scarlet liquid. I headbutted him and kneed the boy in the stomach. I jumped and did a spinning kick that knocked his frail form back several feet. I unhooked an ink grenade from my belt and threw it at him. It exploded in a cloud of black poisoned gas that engulfed the boy. He managed to stagger back, making me wonder how a human even found the strength to do that.

I marched towards my staff, picked it up, and revved it's two chainsaws. I decided to deal with the blonde female first. She looked at me and spat a glop of blood. It's amazing at how even in death, this girl still acts like she's victorious. Then, something wrapped it's arms around my neck. It was that other boy, the younger one with a sliced wing.

I wrapped a bony claw around his wrist and pried him off. In one swift move I tossed him up in the air, turned, and smoothly dragged my chainsaw through his torso, splattering blood and veins all over the dull grey floor. It looked like art.

The female screamed something I couldn't understand. Her eyes swam with rage and tears. Pathetic. Was this not enough to subdue her. Perhaps the queen will give me a reward if I bring her back alive. To show her I was taking prisoners, I aimed a pistol at the youngest female, who was still against the wall crying over the death of her comrade.

She actually accepted this fate, with angry tears and possibly a slew of curses in the humans' tongue. These creatures are so weak. They let their emotions get the better of them, as apposed to us, who honors eachother's memory as just another unfortunate casualty of war.


End file.
